Mikey Whipwreck

Perception Reality Life

The General could be the end credits song for a horror movie. While not epic in the standard GnR sense, that chorus and underlying guitars are massive and that's a pretty epic solo at the end Monsters also has an underlying creepiness juxtaposed with an earworm chorus and melodies. Awesome guitar work by Slash on that one. The bridge vocals are as good as advertised by Axl. If anything this is proof Slash could've easily integrated himself into Axl's industrial vision in the mid 90s and it would have worked. They could have just played nice and done an "Axl side" and "Slash side" in 1996 or 1997 and it would've been an interesting and worthwhile album.

The Pitman Files from 2014 and 2015 are almost certainly the most interesting thing out there in terms of songs with finished vocals. Whatever's on there The "32 songs, 26 almost done" from 2006 would seem to be: The 14 songs on CD, Oh My God, Silkworms, Atlas, Hard School, Perhaps, State of Grace, The General, Soul Monster, Going Down. Reasonable to assume but uncertain that Oklahoma/Berlin, Seven and Tonto exist with vocals which would be 26. The six others open for speculation. Part of As It Began instrumental was played live by Axl as NR intro in 2002, similar to Prostitute, so that may be one that was finished. Thyme they thought enough of to pay Beltrami to add strings to. I believe there was a Thyme-PRL hybrid track in the Village leaks which would be an interesting song. Me & My Elvis sounds basically like a finished instrumental minus a big solo. Was it Zodiac or Quick Song that had scratch vocals? And then there's Eye On You and Nothing which seem unlikely to have been seriously considered or worked on past the early 2000s

I think the simplest explanation is the songs were separate but intended as companion pieces to be sequenced back to back, which would have been conveyed to Beltrami. Similar to how Axl asked Sorum to reuse the same drum fill on NR, Don't Cry and Estranged

Axl Rose and Caram Costanzo. Not because they're the best option but because that's the only slim hope we have of new music. The idea that Axl would ever work with a real, big name producer again is hilarious.

Me & My Elvis is a truly epic instrumental and would be a shame if it was not finished with vocals. Oklahoma has the makings of a great song too. As It Began and Circus Maximus had the makings of interesting ones as well Also wonder what the song was where Axl said Robin had a Stevie Ray Vaughan style solo.

Agreed. These would have fit on an album with Oh My God, State of Grace, Shacklers, Eye On You, original Silkworms. So, I can see what Axl meant when he said if you don't like CD you probably won't like the second album

Seems so. Me And My Elvis was the instrumental that supposedly became Soul Monster

They could always just release the official versions digitally, like a normal band operating in 2023

Makes you wonder how much else is out there. They had some pretty awesome instrumentals like Oklahoma, Me And My Elvis and Zodiac too that supposedly have vocal versions. So much time and effort spent on quality stuff that's been locked away for two decades for no apparent reason

The shared experience of growing up friends in Lafayette and becoming part of the biggest band in the world is something nobody else can relate to. And their musical chemistry was something special as well. So regardless of their conflicts and what's happened since 1991, I'm sure they will always have a certain affinity and respect for each other. Even if they have different priorities, their personalities clash and they couldn't coexist in the same band anymore

One thing I can assure you, the vocals will be identical to the ones on the 2000 version. I actually think it could be a cool song. I'm a fan of the first minute and the solo. The jarring key change can easily be fixed with a simple transition. The vocals have a very Southern rock feel to them, so Slash could easily do something in his wheelhouse to beef up the bland instrumental and make the song stronger

I can't say I'm up to speed on the Smashing Pumpkins record you mentioned but did quick search it seems the songs were recently recorded and included as a box set bonus? Whereas with The General, it would be like if someone mentioned 15 years ago Billy had a recorded some amazing song, an epic tune with a full orchestra and the heaviest guitar tracks he's ever laid down, then he decided to finally release it as a vinyl only B-side

Exactly. The longer you keep the audience waiting the higher the expectations Setting quality and creative direction aside, there's no way CD could have lived up to the hype. If they'd just released what they had in 2001, it would have been better received if only because expectations would have been lower. It also would have given them some artistic credibility as a real band performing new material they created

As far as I'm aware, Slash and Duff haven't worked with Matt in any meaningful way for 15 years. There's probably a reason for that.

It will be ripped and widely available for free online the moment the vinyls ship, so not releasing it digitally or on streaming means they're forgoing additional money and good publicity for no reason. It would make no sense. In other words, it seems there's a decent chance this rumor is true

It's been many years since I listened to the radio with any consistency but Hard Skool hit #9 on the mainstream rock airplay chart so it must have gotten some consistent play Perhaps debuted at #26 https://www.billboard.com/artist/Guns-N-Roses/chart-history/RTT

This quote: "Paul is in my mind completely useless. I hate that guy. I’m sorry, I’m sure he’s very nice but in a rock n roll context he’s pathetic, and as far as his relationship with Izzy, they’re Indiana kids, I can understand he feels comfortable, but I refuse to ever play with him again. I have to go home and deal with that, but as far as I know he’s out [Spin, Kerrang! July 1995" To me shows how personal and juvenile things had gotten. You know this guy's a personal friend of Axl's so to publicly air him out like that, he was going out of his way to be antagonistic

The concert going public only cares about Axl and Slash. And, to a much lesser extent, Duff. Having Matt there over Frank would probably be a lot more expensive, with no impact on revenue. And make no mistake, GNR in its current form exists to make as much money as possible for Axl, Slash and Duff

Well, there was 7 years between them all leaving and Contraband happening. The fact that they didn't immediately form a new band in 1997 or 1998 suggests they were all burned out and needed some time apart. But Axl has inarguably been the least productive of them all as far as releasing new music. The fact that he's still clinging to songs that are 18-25 years old and releasing them one at a time decades after they were written kind of says it all

It's hard to say but they had no problem working on Shadow or Back Off Bitch which predated Guns. Paul's just a convenient scapegoat. What destroyed the band was Axl and Slash refusing to work on each other's songs and without Izzy there as the bridge between them they couldn't work together. All they had to do was say, Axl, Paul and Dizzy go off and do your piano ballads and industrial songs, Slash, Duff and Matt go do your crunchy blues rock songs. Each "subgroup" comes back with their best 5 or 6 songs, everyone helps flesh them out and that's the album. Really no different than UYI. A few years ago I went back and re-read a bunch of the 1994-1997 articles and interviews and it's remarkable going through all of it at once how simple and stupid most of the issues were. Most of it boiled down to, Axl and Slash had creative differences and refused to compromise or work on each other's stuff.

Paul also cowrote Shadow of Your Love and Back Off Bitch with Axl prior to Guns even existing so at minimum he's someone who was able to speak Axl's language and help him map out songs. As far as his personality, I have no doubts he was hated by Matt, Slash and Duff. But he was put in an unfair position. They viewed him Axl's unqualified that was being forced on them. So while I fully believe their accounts that he was a jerk in their interactions, it's naive to pretend that was a one way street. He was almost certainly treated with hostility off the bat. Much of the blame for that lies with Axl. That said his lack of talent seems to have been overstated. He contributed to a number of good songs over the years. The irony of two of the first three reunion singles being Paul Tobias songs shouldn't be lost on anyone. Wouldn't be surprising if he's credited on Perhaps when the final credits are revealed

In the subsequent 32 years he's shown very little interest in touring

Guns N' Roses wouldn't exist today if not for money

The excesses of UYI albums and tours, from the saloon piano and gospel choir to the backup singers and Teddy Zig Zag were thoroughly influenced by the Stones excesses. Izzy could have played the role of Richards to Axl's Jagger but didn't want to deal with it. Which is fine. But let's not pretend the Stones were some down and dirty anti establishment band for most of their career. Same with Aerosmith who re-energized their career doing the Walk This Way remake with Run-DMC and making a hair metal style album that heavily utilized outside pop songwriters. Their biggest single of all time is a pop ballad written by Diane Warren for a Michael Bay movie